This invention relates to packaging of articles of merchandise adapted to be hung on display racks, and more particularly to packages wherein the articles may be carried in a container of one material supported by a hanger of another material and the method of forming such packages.
Merchandising of packaged articles often comprises the hanging of such packaged articles from a peg or rod extending from a perforated display board. Some of these packages include a transparent or translucent plastic bag constructed of polyethylene in which the articles may be viewed and which is provided with a hole for receiving the peg or rod from which it is suspended. Other packages comprise cardboard or similar boxes formed with an integral tab provided with the peg receiving hole. However, when potential consumers are shopping they tend to remove the packages from the pegs to closely view the merchandise and, if they decide against the purchase, the packages are thereafter replaced on the peg. Thus, one major difficulty with packages of this construction is that after a number of removals and replacements of the packages on the display the material around the support hole in the plastic bag and the tabs of the cardboard boxes tend to tear, thereby preventing further hanging of the packages. Another type of display hanger, especially used for merchandising socks and the like, has a plastic hook having an elongated arm extending in a first direction from the lower end of the hook and bent back to form another arm spaced from and underlying the first arm, the article merely being draped over and suspended from the lower arm. After an article has been removed and replaced a number of times from such hangers, the hanger has a tendency to break at the bend connecting the upper and lower arms.
To overcome these difficulties the prior art has devised a number of constructions in which a separate hanger is utilized in conjunction with the article carrying package.
In the utilization of a plastic bag package a plastic hanger has been disposed through a slit in the top of the bag and bonded to the bag. However, since the bags are generally constructed from polyethylene, in order to bond a hanger to this material the hanger must also be constructed from polyethylene. Polyethylene, however, is a flexible material and hangers constructed of this material are somewhat flimsy and cannot support much weight. Thus, the hook portion of the hanger tends to spread open while hanging on the display rack peg with the result that the packages tend to fall off the peg. Polypropylene plastic is a more rigid material than polyethylene, but these materials cannot be bonded together. Although a polypropylene hanger may be bonded to a polypropylene bag, polypropylene is a more expensive material and the additional cost generally is not warranted for use as the bag material. Polystyrene is a more rigid material than either polyethylene or polypropylene, but is also more expensive. Thus, even if it could be used for constructing the bag, its cost would be prohibitive, especially when packaging inexpensive products such as socks and underwear. Thus, where polystyrene hangers have been used in conjunction with polyethylene bags they have either merely been loosely positioned and unsecured within the bag with the hook of the hanger extending out through a slot in the top of the bag, or have been secured by an adhesive as disclosed, for example, in Brewill U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,722. In the former instance the hanger tends to fall into the bag when it is not supporting the package, and in the latter instance an adhesive must be applied to the bag material.
In the utilization of cardboard packages a separate plastic hanger has been used by either specially constructed hangers to retain the hanger from falling into the package, such as illustrated in Herrin U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,930 or they have been retained by sandwiching between a pair of shells forming the package, such as illustrated in Strongwater U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,102. In the former instance special assembly techniques must be utilized to flex and position the hanger, while in the latter instance the package itself must be specially configured such that it is not applicable to most merchandised articles. Moreover, in the merchandising of certain items, the package may include an upstanding wall on which size, price and other such information is displayed, and with the constructions illustrated in the aforesaid patents, the hook portion of the hanger would mask a portion of that wall. Thus, the known hanging display packages have strength, cost and/or limited applications.